American Sign Language professionals and North Central University students came to hear Betty Colonomus, director of the Bilingual Mediation Center in College Park, Maryland, present material and workshops on interpreting for the hearing impaired. Colonomus’ workshops are three days long, comprising a total 20 hours of teaching and small group time. Attendees benefit not only from workshop content, but also from connecting with other translators from across the Twin Cities.

“I like being able to learn what to do in certain situations or circumstances that most people don’t think about or know how to handle,” says NCU sophomore Jared Paulson. “I also enjoy talking to the older participants and learning how they got to where they are now in their careers.”

This was the second of an eight-part series during which the NCU community will hear from Colonomus, who has been teaching interpretation classes for more than 30 years all around the country. She has an undergraduate degree in deaf education/speech pathology, a graduate degree in counseling, and a doctorate in linguistics. Watch for details about Colonomus’ next visit to NCU.